Religion in India is a constantly evolving and transformative entity that cannot be engaged with in isolation from other dimensions of life. This short introduction moves beyond traditional text- and scripture-based academic approaches to provide an overview of the dynamic role of religion in contemporary Indian society. Examining religion through the perspectives of religious actors, interlocutors, and practices, it highlights how religion intersects with the state, secularism, identity, and civic and economic life. An indispensable resource for general readers, students, and researchers, this book will foster grounds for dialogue towards a flourishing of pluralism in present-day India.

This  case study, documents the trials, tribulations and victories of a citizen’s movement to protect the environment — in this case the Chevella banyans. These banyans  that are of ecological, historical and cultural importance were under threat of being axed for a road widening project. This case study can be used as a teaching resource in undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, and by civil society organisations and citizens as a guiding document to understand how they can contribute to protecting the environment, the strategies they can apply and the challenges they might face.

Authors:

Rini Singhi, Seema Mundoli, Harini Nagendra

The increasing global demand for food, coupled with the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation, has shifted attention towards blue food systems. While these systems offer a potential solution to food security challenges, their sustainability is threatened by various factors, including overfishing, habitat destruction, and climate change. Recognising these challenges, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO, UN) advocates for ensuring the sustainable contribution of aquatic food systems to global food security and nutrition, aligning with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs). It was hypothesised that adoption of UN-SDGs would increase the interest of researchers in sustainability of fisheries and aquaculture. Therefore, a bibliometric analysis of the relevant literature published between 2000 and 2023 was conducted to test this hypothesis. The analysis revealed a significant rise in publications addressing climate change and sustainability after the adoption of the UN-SDGs. The countries exhibiting high vulnerability to climate change contributed disproportionately fewer publications to the database. The United States emerged as the leading contributor in terms of publication volume, while Canada’s University of British Columbia was identified as the institution with the highest number of contributing authors. The findings underscore pronounced geographical disparities in research output, with a predominance of countries from the Global North. The underlying factors contributing to these disparities are discussed. Furthermore, the study discusses the policy implications of these findings and emphasises the imperative to prioritise equitable research initiatives. Such efforts are essential to effectively support the realisation of the SDGs within the domain of blue food systems and sustainability.

This report constructs a Rural Multidimensional Deprivation Index (RDI) for measuring deprivation in Jharkhand. An important feature of the index is that it is constructed using indicators on provisioning of basic infrastructural amenities at the village level. This is different from the usual poverty indices that are composed of financial indicators such as income or consumption; or indicators measuring development outcomes such as educational or nutritional levels. Observing the provisioning of basic infrastructural amenities, this report makes focused policy suggestions that can be easily implemented by functionaries working on the ground. The data for the index is sourced from the Mission Antyodaya Survey, which was carried out in 2019 at the village level across the country. The survey collects data related to provisioning and outcome of basic amenities in villages, along with demographic and socioeconomic variables. Because this is a periodic survey, it enables us to track the developmental progress of each village, district, state and the country over time. In total, there are about 182 variables that were captured in the 2019 round. The survey covers 31,175 out of 32,620 villages in Jharkhand, which is 95.6 percent of the total number of villages in the state; and 6,48,358 out of 6,67,933 villages in India, or 97.1 percent of the villages in the country.

Editors

Prasanna S, Sandhya Krishnan, Sanket Gharat, Puja Guha, Amalendu Jyotishi, Neeraj Hatekar

In this chapter, the researchers critically examine the emancipatory role of neoliberalism with a focus on women’s work in India. They argue that the multi-pronged crisis afflicting the labour market is a fallout of the implementation of the neoliberal project in India that had severely impacted women workers, who typically are one of the oppressed sections in society. They argue that neoliberalism leads to the proliferation of social orthodoxies that promote patriarchal gender contracts whereby men are the primary breadwinners while women are mainly responsible for social reproduction in the ​‘domestic’ space.

They highlight that the neoliberal regime in India is associated with declining participation in paid work for women workers, notwithstanding the rapid growth rate of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) that the economy has been witnessing. This is in the backdrop of India having one of the lowest rates of participation in paid employment of women workers. They claim that women’s work participation in India is affected by the production conditions in Indian agriculture and the burden of unpaid care work. However, increased participation in paid work — the quantitative dimension — does not necessarily lead to women’s empowerment under neoliberalism. This is largely due to the proliferation of the informal sector, which has been the major source of paid work for women workers. The researchers contend that women workers encounter two layers of subordination and control in the labour market that become acute in the informal sector, which is associated with a lack of worker’s rights. They are subordinated, first, by the dominance of capital and, second, by the patriarchal social order. These, in turn, adversely impact the quality and economic value of women’s work. They argue that the degradation of the economic value of women’s work has led to the accentuation of the gender bias that endangers the chances of survival of the girl child in a society characterised by deep-rooted patriarchy.

The contemporary precarity of women’s work — in terms of quantity and quality of work — also reflects the existing social orthodoxies that loom large in the private and public domains in India. Lastly, based on the latest Periodic Labour Force Survey database, they argue that the COVID-19 pandemic has widened the structural inequalities in the economy and added a layer to the existing vulnerabilities of women workers.

Authors: Mampi Bose, Shantanu De Roy

In this book, Prema, a young girl living in Mumbai, learns about heatwaves and their devastating effects when her father falls seriously ill during an intense summer. Through her eyes, readers explore the human impact of rising temperatures and the urgent need for climate awareness.

Authors: Shrunoti Ritesh Tatiya, Santonu Goswami, Seema Mundoli, Harini Nagendra

Illustrations: Shrunoti Ritesh Tatiya